DWINDLING rural congregations face a £5 million bill to fix churches across the county in urgent need of repair.

Twenty-one churches - the majority serving small parishes - are new entries on the latest Buildings at Risk register for Herefordshire published this week by English Heritage.

The new entries take the total of churches at risk to 25 ranging from St Peter’s in Hereford to the chapel at Brockhampton Park, Brockhampton.

Six of those churches are described as being in a “very bad” state. They are St Michael’s, Upper Sapey; St Mary’s, Stoke Edith; St Mary’s, Middleton on the Hill; St John the Baptist, Grendon Bishop; Holy Trinity, Bosbury; and St Bartholomew’s, Ashperton.

Ten of the “at risk” churches have a Grade 1 listing that puts them amongst the most important historic sites the county.

The best estimate the Diocese of Hereford offers for repairs so far is £5 million or around £250,000 per church.

Earlier this year, the Hereford Times revealed that centuries of parish life in the county were under threat as churches across the diocese struggled to pay the parish share that covers basic bills.

Aging “sure foundation” congregations dwindling to low double figures or less already face raising thousands of pounds year-on-year to survive.

“The register is a comprehensive list  of the churches really in need of immediate care,” said Anni Holden for Hereford Diocese.

“It’s not necessarily bad news if a church is on the register as it does tend to focus minds locally as well as  those of the funders, other than English Heritage,” she said.

The main structural problems for the at risk churches are roofs and towers  which, once leaking, cause more damage to fabric.

But the diocese is quick to stress that the need for repairs is a “generational thing” and not down to down to neglect on behalf of parishioners.

Nine diocesan  churches have been removed from the at risk register over the past year with works completed through English Heritage and Heritage Lottery grant aid.